PSE’s Marty Henrikson Takes a 170 Class Bow Buck

PSE’s Marty Henrikson

Editor’s Note: Marty Henrikson of Tucson, Arizona, has been shooting PSE bows for 36 years. Henrikson, an avid bowhunter, competed for many years on the 3D archery circuit and also won the Arizona Cup in the compound division.

Question: Tell us about another deer you’ve taken with your PSE bow.

In 1973, I took a very memorable mule deer. I glassed him when he was up on a hill, and then he moved down into some flats. I had seen the buck in the morning and went back later in the day to try and hunt him. He had been traveling with a lot of does in the morning, and that made him hard to stalk. When I went back in the afternoon, I found the buck again, but he only had one doe with him. So, I was certain I could get in close enough to get a shot, and I started stalking the deer. Moving silently, and using the terrain and cover to keep the buck from seeing me, I came to within 30 yards of the deer. When I’m stalking, I like to use my binoculars to see how and where the deer is moving. I only will take a half or one whole step before taking another look at the deer. I’ve learned that by going slow, and constantly reading the deer’s attitude as well as his movement, I can make better decisions on when and where to move, and where the deer is going.

After I had moved about 15 yards, the doe spotted me and started stomping her feet. When the doe saw me, I was on my knees crawling. Although she knew there was something moving in front of her, she wasn’t really sure what I was. She continued to close the distance between us, but was at full alert. The doe walked up to within 35 yards of me, and then started to turn to leave the area. The doe was out in front of the buck and now was staring at me. I went ahead and drew my bow, but the buck still wasn’t sure of what I was. So, he hesitated. Before the buck turned to leave, he gave me just enough time to release my arrow. I took that buck with a PSE Mach 6. When I saw that the big 170 class buck was down, I walked over to him and marked a waypoint on my GPS receiver. I always carry a hand held GPS receiver in my pack. Usually I have to walk to the truck and get my freighter pack and then walk back to the deer to butcher and pack him out. That hand held GPS makes finding your deer much easier when you go back in to bring him out. The type of country I hunt usually doesn’t give its hunters the advantage of being able to get an animal to the nearest road. Most western hunters know that when we take a mule deer or a Coues deer, we will have to do our own field dressing, skinning and packing the animal out in the field. For this reason, I always bring along a frame pack and a GPS. I don’t like to hunt with a frame pack on my back, so I usually leave it in the truck. I’ll mark a waypoint spot where I park the truck on the GPS and then also mark a waypoint where I leave the deer. When I mark these waypoint spots, it makes traveling to and from the truck and my deer quicker and easier. I can get to my pack, go back to the deer, carry out the first load of meat, make a return trip and depending on how big the animal is, get the rest of the deer out as soon as possible

Tomorrow: The Elk Hunt That Took PSE’s Marty Henrikson 10 Years

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